Panasonic PT-AE4000U

When it comes to enjoying the best possible home entertainment experience, the HDTV plays an important role and the bigger the size, the better. The only problem is that the large TVs (usually above 50-inches) are quite expensive. Some brands have affordable models, but they either lack in features or have certain flaws in image quality or performance. Large screen TVs are also difficult to move around.

Fortunately, there are compact alternatives that yield a similar home theater experience. They are still costly normally priced over $2,000, but the size is scalable providing you have the space and choose the right model. The Panasonic PT-AE4000U is one of those projectors that have a lot to offer.

Design

The Panasonic PT-AE4000U is uniquely designed because the projector lens is located on the center. This gives the projector a balanced look which should look good in symmetrical home theater setups. The high-grade finish is quite durable and the optional ET-PCE2000 cable cover makes it look even better because it hides the connection cables. The compact remote control is also well-designed and customizable with user-programmable buttons. The unique design also makes it easier to maintain than other projectors. The filter can be replaced from the side while the lamp is replaceable from top part of the projector. This makes it easy to replace key parts even if it is installed on the ceiling.

Actual user review:“Upgraded from the AE2000, well worth it. The color and black levels are noticeably improved over the 2000, especially the reds. Brightness seems better but my old projector had 2000 hours on it so the bulb had dimmed some. Nothing better IMO this side of $4000, can’t go wrong with the PT-AE series.” – D.Scott (CA,USA)

Features

The Panasonic PT-AE4000U is one of the brighter home theater projectors out there thanks to the Red-Rich Lamp. This lamp is a huge improvement to the previous Panasonic models as the brightness reaches 150% levels. From its name, the Red-Rich Lamp overrides the weaknesses of previous lamps so the color reproduction is no longer affected. This translates to better colors which are crucial if the projector is meant to replace an LCD TV.

The excellent color quality is backed up by the Pure Color Filter Pro which increases the purity levels of the primary colors as well as improves the deepness of the blacks. Very dark and bright scenes also look better because of the Dynamic Iris technology. It uses a histogram to analyze the brightness level which in turn adjusts the lamp power. The color settings are easily customizable because of the new Cinema Color Management Premium and Point Color collection. The Advanced Gamma Adjustment Function also gives the Panasonic PT-AE4000U a layer of customization.

It uses an advanced optical system consisting of dual high-performance extra low dispersion lenses to produce images with striking clarity. There are also two aspherical lenses with larger diameters that are carefully aligned for a balanced full-HD experience. This makes the Panasonic PT-AE4000U match up well when pitted against LCD displays. In fact, it achieves a 100,000:1 contrast ratio which is better than some of the budget LCD TVs. The Pure Contrast Plate is the technology behind this high dynamic contrast ratio.

Another disadvantage of LCD projectors is the unwanted “chicken wire” effect that is often produced. The Smooth Screen technology overcomes this disadvantage by removing the gaps between the pixels. This not only makes the images smoother, but also gives it a 3-D effect which is a refreshing change considering all the expensive 3-D TVs out there.

Most LCD TVs have smoother 120 Hz or 240 Hz frame rates which dramatically reduces motion blur. The Panasonic PT-AE4000U handles motion differently by utilizing a double-speed drive capability which also achieves the 120 Hz figure and it can be optionally set to 100 Hz as well. This hardware component also boosts the contrast. The motion blur reduction technology is called Frame Creation 2 and it features four modes where users simply choose which looks the best for smoothening blurs.

In addition to the lens, the Detail Clarity Processor 3 gives the Panasonic PT-AE4000U the ability to reproduce fine nuances that were originally lost because of image compression. It is customizable with eight steps to choose from and makes images a lot more natural.

Bottom Line

The Panasonic PT-AE4000U offers an impressive set of technologies that primarily focus on the overall quality of the image. These enhancements are significant because it brings it closer to the ordinary HDTV models. The main difference is its ability to go from 40 to 300 inches in screen size.

Average User Rating:More user reviews:

• “I love this projector. I actually upgraded from the Panasonic PT-AE3000u (also great). I have noticed that this projector is brighter, has a clearer picture, better colors, and better contrast and black levels than the PT-AE3000u. It really shines with Blu-ray, but all sources look good. Not much else to say, but for the money, you can’t beat it.” – Krista (FL,USA)

• “I did an unbelievable amount of research on home theater projectors over the course of about a year beginning on a projector about half the price of this and slowly making my way to this model before deciding that this was the one. I am overjoyed to report that this projector was beyond my wildest expectations. I own a Samsung Touch of Red LCD screen that is the envy of everyone who comes over and sees it, but this blows that out of the water (projected 100″ onto a fixed 16:9 screen). Colors are bright and the image is crisp with great contrast. Although I did calibrate it and got the image to look slightly better, I found that it wasn’t really too necessary as the out of the box Color 1 setting was tuned well enough. I will say this about it though, it’s huge. Although it doesn’t weigh a great deal, the physical size of this thing is gigantic. I also had some difficulty getting a universal projector mount to fit and hang right with it, but I guess that’s not entirely its fault as I’m sure others more experienced had no troubles. “ – M.Hammond (TX,USA)

• “This is an outstanding projector at any price. It has the most flexible controls and adjustments settings of any projector I’ve compared it to. The waveform monitor and split screen adjustment capability make this projector a breeze to adjust precisely, especially if you’re a perfectionist. The appearance is functional in design and high quality in materials, a welcome relief from some of the competing projectors that appears to be toylike in design and appearance. The proof is in the quality of the images it produces, it has ruined me as far as enjoyment of the image quality in most movie theatres, which are usually inferior.” – Bobsor (AZ,USA)